


Milestones

by lea_hazel



Category: Seven Kingdoms: The Princess Problem (Visual Novel)
Genre: 7KPP Week, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, Future Fic, Gen, Multi, Post-Canon, Post-Summit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-18 23:43:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13692321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lea_hazel/pseuds/lea_hazel
Summary: 7KPP Week 2018:Day 1: Allegra/Clarmont, "Heart"Day 2: Marguerite/Gisette, "Fear"Day 3: Felicity/Zarad, "Dawn/Midnight" (explicit)Day 4: Allegra & Avalie, "Nostalgia"Day 5: Jack & Christabel, "Family"Day 6: Allegra, Marguerite & friends, "Modern A/UDay 7: Periwinkle/Jasper, "Winter/Spring"





	1. Heart (Allegra/Clarmont, PG)

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 1: Heart, also based on faejilly's prompt "slow dancing" takes place roughly two years post-canon.

“You will regret it,” she said, when he offered her his hand. “I’m a terrible dancer.”

“I’ve heard that before,” he said. “I don’t recall it going all too poorly, the last time we had an opportunity to dance.”

That had been nearly two years ago.

“If you’re willing to risk it,” said Allegra.

“If the risk is worth the reward,” replied Clarmont, “why not?”

She took his hand.

Her heart was pounding. It had been all day, off and on. Allegra had woken up at the crack of dawn that morning, hours before the maids would come in to rouse her, and hadn’t been able to get back to sleep. She’d been waiting,  _they’d_  been waiting years for this day. Not that she hadn’t known from the start that their own, personal concerns would have to take second precedence to the affairs of the kingdom. She knew what she was getting into. Still, after interminable months of wheeling and dealing, bribes and incentives, threats and extortion, she was more than ready to seal the deal, as it were.

They had only time to arrange a very small, modest wedding. Scarlet had hied over from Keirtarn on short notice and somehow managed to plan the whole affair in less than a month, putting even Allegra’s closest squeezes to shame. She cheerfully took over the kitchens and the staff and began ordering them about so naturally that only her famous charm could prevent it seeming high-handed. She also took it upon herself to make sure that Allegra didn’t forget to eat and sleep, up to and including bringing her breakfast on the day of the wedding itself, and sitting around to watch that she ate at least some of it. Allegra could only take this as revenge for their childhood.

Of the wedding gown that Allegra had taken pains to have made in advance, she only said, “I don’t know why you would choose such a somber color. This is a celebration!”

“I like blue,” said Allegra.

Scarlet clicked her tongue. “At least let me arrange some flowers to liven it up.”

So Allegra had spent the whole day of her second wedding holding her head high, always nervous that if she tilted it the wrong way or moved too energetically the whole floral arrangement would come apart. This and many other thoughts spun through her head as Clarmont led her from her seat out onto the open floor, which was rapidly filling with dancing couples. Farther on, she could see Scarlet dancing with her husband, and their little brother dancing with a girl she didn’t recognize. The rest of the family could not make it on such short notice, which was almost a relief.

“May I have the first dance with my wife?” asked Clarmont, bowing over her gloved hand.

Allegra’s heart gave one last stutter. “Of course,” she said graciously, trying not to blurt out that she would give him anything he wanted.

He took her hand and, oblivious to the rest of the room, pulled her in rather closer than was proper.

It was the first dance of the evening and, per the traditions of a good old-fashioned country ball, the music was still soft and low. Once the gathered guests had had a chance to break in their dancing shoes, the musicians would pick up their tempo for the livelier dances. It was a good song to start with, sweet, slow, and sentimental. The sort of thing she would ordinarily dismiss, an old love song, but if ever there was a night for it, this was the one.

Clarmont’s hand was warm on her waist, so that she could feel it through the thick velvet of her gown, and his breath brushed her ear. Allegra tipped her head back to look at him and her heart gave another stutter, so that she almost tripped. He was holding her so close that she almost thought he was going to steal a kiss. Which was foolish, of course. They were married now, finally, and could have as many non-stolen kisses as they liked, though perhaps not in the middle of a hall full of other dancing couples. Briefly, the air in the room felt thick and oppressive, and she suppressed the urge to flee to her room and drag her new husband with her. It was early, yet.

The dance winded down and they parted, Clarmont bowing again.

“Did the first dance meet your expectations, husband?” asked Allegra, trying for a brash smile that didn’t entirely succeed.

“Perfectly,” he answered.

“Shall we keep on?” she asked, when the musicians broke into another song. “Who knows how long it will be before we have the leisure to dance again.”

“When we have leisure to,” said Clarmont, “I suspect I will go back to having to compete for your hand again. I’d like to take advantage of the luxury of dancing with my wife, when for once she’s not the most popular girl in the room.”

“How dare you?” she said, swatting his shoulder. “I am always the most popular girl in any room I walk into.”

“Too true,” said Clarmont with a long-suffering sigh.

“An occupational hazard of having such excellent taste,” said Allegra.

“Also very true,” he agreed. “Might I have this dance?”

“Absolutely,” she said, and took his hand.


	2. Fear (Marguerite/Gisette, PG)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post-canon, in Revaire, Marguerite shares her fears with Gisette and gets a surprise in return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight implied spoilers for the extended demo, concerning the Corval!MC's personal plot resolution.

“I don’t want to do this.”

Gisette sighed. “I know, darling.”

Marguerite’s eyebrows snapped together. “Don’t humor me,” she said irritably. “It’s annoying.”

“I know, darling,” said Gisette again, “but even you must admit that you’ve been very testy of late.”

“I have excellent reasons to be irritable,” said Marguerite.

“Of course you do,” said Gisette soothingly. “I know you do.”

“You don’t know!” snapped Marguerite. “How could you possibly? You’re not the one who has to carry the thing inside your body! This is awful. Why did I agree to this at all?”

“The crown, my love,” said Gisette. “You wanted the crown, remember?”

Marguerite sighed and grumbled and fell back down on the bed dramatically. “Yes, I remember,” she said, resentfully. “It was the worst idea of my life.”

“Only think of how much farther we’d be from each other right now,” said Gisette, “if you hadn’t agreed.”

“Soon I will blow up like a whale carcass and you’ll find me repulsive,” said Marguerite, “and then it won’t matter how close we are.”

To punctuate, she tugged on Gisette’s sash and pulled her down to sprawl on the bed beside her. Gisette reached over and stroked her cheek with her thumb, then rested their foreheads against each other. Marguerite sighed softly, letting her eyes drift shut, and leaned into the light touch. For just a moment it was easy to forget everything that was outside.

“Why can’t it always be like this?” she asked wistfully. “Why did I ever think this was a good idea? I’m far too selfish to be a mother, anyway.”

“The nurses will do most of the raising, you know,” said Gisette, shushing her and pulling her head into the crook of her neck. “That’s how Jarrod and I were raised, after all.”

Marguerite pressed her face into Gisette’s neck. “Yes, I suppose.”

“Then they’ll get older,” said Gisette, her voice taking on a sing-song tone, like a storyteller’s, “and they’ll be big enough to do things you can brag about to your friends. Perhaps you’ll have a pretty little girl and you can dress her in pretty dresses. They won’t always be a fuss, you know, and they’ll probably even love you. I loved my mother, when I was that age.”

“You’re dreadful,” said Marguerite into her neck. “Children aren’t dolls, you know.”

“My, but you’ve grown conscientious,” said Gisette teasingly, flicking a strand of hair off her forehead gently. “Are you quite certain you haven’t some good news to deliver already? You seem to be nesting.”

Marguerite straightened up abruptly, her face a mask of shock. “Could I– So soon?”

Gisette shrugged. “How long since you stopped taking your contraceptive?”

She counted on her fingers. “A little more than a week.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it, then,” said Gisette briskly. “Stopping can affect your mood for the first few weeks. That’s likely all it is.”

Marguerite groaned and collapsed face-down on the bed. Then she rolled on her side and said, “Are you saying I’m moody?”

Gisette sat, looking down at her, and carefully raised one eyebrow. “Darling.”

Marguerite groaned. “I know, I know. And I hate it! I hate all of this. You can go tell your stupid brother that I’m only doing this once, so if he doesn’t get a son the first time around he can damn well learn to live with a daughter.”

Gisette drew her back into her lap, stroking her hair. “Everything will be fine.”

“I’m scared, Gisette,” Marguerite mumbled, not looking at her. “Women die like this all the time. What if that happens to me?”

Gisette’s hand on her head stilled briefly, before drifting lower to draw soothing circles on her back. “Everything will be fine, dear,” she said again.

“I want my mother,” she mumbled blearily.

“That can be arranged for, I think,” said Gisette very softly.

Marguerite, by then, had already drifted to sleep.

It took quite some time to arrange, actually. Months of letters back and forth, favors called upon and subtle threats delivered, before her requests could even find their way into the Empress of Corval’s hands. She had to do it all without calling on Marguerite’s own contacts, or her unique business relationship with the Crown Prince, which made everything take longer. But there was very little that was beyond the Princess of Revaire’s reach, when she put her mind to it, and bringing one woman across the border from their neighbors to the south didn’t seem like it should prove an exception. So she redoubled her efforts at every wrong turn and let nothing set her back.

By the time her little surprise gift was ready for her love to receive it, Marguerite was already beginning to show her condition. Only a few days earlier, the royal physician had proclaimed that he thought the baby would probably be a girl. This was fortuitous, because Jarrod had thrown such an extravagant tantrum at the news that the King and Queen had sent him on a ‘retreat’ to the royal hunting lodge. She could have all the time alone with Marguerite that either of them wanted, which was where she was when her maid found her with a message from Port Indigo.

“I believe we’ll have a guest for dinner tonight,” said Gisette.

Marguerite stirred at the sound of the word 'dinner’. “What was that? Who is it?”

Gisette smiled. “I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.”

“You’re a terrible tease,” said Marguerite.

“You love every moment of it,” replied Gisette. “Don’t pretend otherwise.”

She was obviously brimming with curiosity, but still she shooed Gisette out of her room an hour before dinner and took extra care dressing herself before descending to dine with the rest of the royal family. Gisette took to her room to do the same and was waiting patiently behind her chair for the last member of their dinner party to join them.

“Apologies for my tardiness,” came a voice from the doorway, “the ride from Port Indigo was rather long. I hope I didn’t hold you up inexcusably.”

In the doorway stood a lady of fifty-some years, with slightly graying dark hair and exquisite posture. She was dressed and veiled in peacock blue silk which, contrary to her claims of an arduous journey, didn’t seem stained or even overly creased. Beneath her veil and her heavy coiffure her eyes were dark and piercing, and what she lacked in stature she more than made up for by sheer force of presence. The family resemblance was unmistakable.

A maid stepped in behind her, somewhat belatedly announcing, “Lady Solange of Corval, Your Majesties.”

At the seat next to her, Gisette could feel Marguerite almost vibrating with contained energy. If she wanted to fling herself into her mother’s arms, which she no doubt did, she smothered the urge with admirable efficiency. Her poise was flawless.

The Queen gestured at the seat that had already been prepared for a guest. “Please, Lady Solange, do take your seat.”

Somewhere in all the fuss and circumstance of formal dining that her mother always insisted on, Marguerite found time to discreetly squeeze her wrist, sending her a brief but eloquent sidelong glance: ' _thank you_ ’.


	3. Dawn/Midnight (Felicity/Zarad, Explicit)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zarad and Felicity, on the very last night of the summit. First time, sexually explicit.

Felicity startled when she detected the shadow at the edge of her room, but calmed herself quickly. She knew she would have to get used to things like that in her new life. She also know that she almost certainly would  _not_  have seen him unless he wanted her to. This was more than a little disconcerting, but whenever she thought about it she took a deep breath and reminded herself that she knew what she was committing to. This platitude, however usually comforting, did not seem to cover the present situation.

“This doesn’t seem wise,” she said to the air of the ostensibly empty room.

Zarad stepped out of the shadows, letting the thin light of the only lamp fall over him. “Oh?”

“We leave tomorrow,” she reminded him. “We’re expected. We’ll have to be up at first light.”

“I know,” said Zarad. “That only makes this more urgent.”

“Urgent?” said Felicity. “Starting tomorrow, we’ll have the rest of our lives together, unless there’s something you haven’t told me.”

“Many things, my star, I assure you,” said Zarad with a smile.

“Unless,” insisted Felicity, “there is some other wife or someone of the sort you have kept from me.”

“Gods above!” he exclaimed, pressing a hand to his chest. “As if I would imperil myself so for anyone but the most radiant woman in the world.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere,” said Felicity tartly, but she knew that she was blushing.

“I can see that,” said Zarad. “Are you going to stay on the opposite side of the room from me until sunrise? Is this an omen for our years to come? If so, I must admit I find it very troubling. Corvali are not ordinarily ominous, you should know.”

“By sunrise, we’ll be expected at the docks already,” she said. “I hope whatever you have planned will not make us late for our ship. It would be extremely unfortunate.”

“Unfortunate indeed,” he said. “I imagine the fierce figure who remains your butler for a few hours more would gladly disembowel me. He is uncommonly jealous, you know.”

“You know,” said Felicity, “if Jasper had really meant to keep you out, I doubt you would be standing here right now.” She paused, then took a few steps towards him. “Which you are.”

Zarad stood and waited, not taking a single step in her direction. “I was ever so restrained for the past seven weeks, and it’s not in my nature to be patient, let alone well-behaved, my Princess. I really think I deserve–”

“A reward?” asked Felicity, taking another step or two in his general direction.

“They can hardly throw us off the island, now that the summit is ended and negotiations are complete. For which I should really congratulate you, my star, for you shone more brightly than ever during this last week.”

“And the rest of our lives?” asked Felicity. “Is the length of the journey to Corval really too long to wait?”

His face grew suddenly serious, in a way she’d become horribly familiar with already. “A week or two, no more. But you must know, my star, that we won’t be wedded as soon as we arrive. Weddings require planning, and imperial weddings can take months to plan. During that time, we would be separated. No, not all the time, of course. We would still be able to see each other. But the consequences of attempting to stealth my way into your room at night are, if anything, more dire in the inner court than here at the isle.”

Felicity closed the distance between them, putting her arms around his waist and resting her cheek against his chest. Zarad wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.

“I wish it wasn’t so, Felicity,” he said. “I wish I could promise you that you could stay by my side from now until eternity, but this short further parting is one we must still suffer through.”

“It’s a small price to pay,” she said into the fabric of his shirt, “I suppose.”

“Is that so?” said Zarad, sliding his hands slowly down her back.

It was midnight, or past. Her maids had long retired to sleep and left her with only a lamp and a cup of tea as she sat down to finish some last letters before going to bed. She’d sat alone, already in her nightclothes, wrapped in a soft wool robe against the night’s chill. It was hardly a costume of seduction, not compared to her elaborate gowns with their daring necklines, and the sparkling jewelry placed strategically to draw the eye. Now, though, she was suddenly conscious of how little barrier stood between his skin and hers, and her blood pounded in her ears.

“Starting tomorrow,” she said. “If I’m going to marry a scoundrel prince, I might as well start the adventure by breaking one last, big rule.”

“I was so hoping you would say that, my star,” he whispered in her ear.

He swept her up and unceremoniously deposited her on the turned down bed. Felicity had only a moment to catch her breath before he kissed her, more fiercely than he ever had before, even in the few truly private moments that they could steal. Catching her breath, apparently, was a fool’s errand. She tried to quip but that, too, was a lost cause.

“This,” said Zarad, drawing her robe open, “is just a very small sample of all the terrible things that I’ve been thinking of doing to you from the very first day we met.”

“From the first day?” said Felicity. “You awful boy.”

That was all she could manage. He skimmed his hand up her thigh, drawing up her nightshirt with it, and her breath caught in her throat. All at the same time his mouth was fixed at her throat, exactly where her pulse was pounding furiously, and she grabbed at his shoulders with both hands to steady herself. He trailed kisses all the way down to the collar of her nightshirt and then back up again, before nipping at her ear lightly. She gasped.

When he drew back, he looked entirely too satisfied with himself. If her mind wasn’t otherwise well-occupied, she might have considered losing her temper at him.

“Now,” he said, “be a helpful girl and lift your hips so I can get these useless things off of you.”

“I hope,” Felicity said, panting, “that you intend to reciprocate, not leave me lying here, the only one of us so exposed.”

“I intend to redefine the word ’ _reciprocate_ ’ for you, forever,” said Zarad.

She lifted her hips. He must have been a lady’s maid in a past life, because he had her out of her clothes faster than she would have thought possible. Leaving her no time to feel awkward or self-conscious about being naked around him, he set to work retracing the path of kisses he had started earlier. Each kiss was just a little slower, a little wetter than the last. When he reached her breast he nipped her again, just scraping his teeth over her skin, which made her moan deeply.

“Oh, God,” she whined. “Why are you so good at this?”

Zarad closed his hand around her other breast, kneading it gently, his thumb circling her hardening nipple. She couldn’t help it; she moaned again, more deeply, the sound ripping from her throat guttural and raw.

“Don’t worry about that, my star,” he said. “Focus on the fact that my skills lie now entirely in your service.”

This was sound advice, she found, in addition to which he ever so helpfully drove all thought from her head by closing his lips around her other nipple and sucking gently. Every time he tugged at it, she dug her fingernails into his back, until finally she tangled one hand in his tousled hair. She tugged at it experimentally, and felt his groan vibrating against her sensitized skin.

“You found my weakness,” said Zarad.

“Of course I did,” she said blithely.

“Of course,” he agreed, and kissed her.

As he deepened the kiss, he shifted his knee between hers, pushing them apart. Felicity’s pulse gave a wild leap. She let her thighs fall open at his touch, panting into his kiss, her fingers tightening around his arm. He teased her in ways she’d barely dared to daydream about before now, and her blood raced, her head falling back, breaking their kiss.

“Oh, please,” she said, her voice raw. “Please, just–”

Zarad braced himself on one arm and leaned back, looking at her intently. “Are you sure?”

She nodded.

“You’re ready?”

“ _So_  ready,” said Felicity.

She expected him to laugh and pique her and be generally insufferably smug about it. He didn’t.  _Some scoundrel prince you are_ , she thought to herself. For all she’d been treated all her life as a delicate, fragile thing, no one had ever been so careful of her feelings before. Whatever she’d expected, this was different, so different than what she could have anticipated.

It did hurt, a little, to start with. She found she tried to suppress her winces even though she didn’t intend to, but it wasn’t as though Zarad couldn’t see right through her. He slowed down, then stopped, holding her close and whispering soothing nonsense in her ear until she nodded at him wordlessly, pressing her face into the crook of his neck. And she dragged her fingernails down his back, and moaned shamelessly, and begged even more shamelessly, and didn’t give a damn about either. No one would know but the two of them, here in this brief place in time where she could finally think of nothing but her own pleasure.

She’d touched herself before, of course, even though it was a thing that good girls weren’t supposed to do. More, recently, now she had something to focus her fantasies, something tangible and real and very much her own. This was different. When she came apart, she had him still inside her, his arms to either side of her body, her legs wrapped around his. He was still moving inside her, each thrust an aftershock that sent stars exploding behind her closed eyelids. And when he collapsed, sweaty and panting, beside her, she still had his warm body to cling to, his arms around her waist, his shoulder to lean her head against.

They lay together, quiet and breathless in the dark.

“Do you have to go?” she asked, after a moment.

He shook his head, and she could feel instead of see the movement. “Not yet.”

“Good,” said Felicity, closing her eyes and snuggling close to him.

He trailed his fingers over her skin and her tangled, sweaty hair.

“I can’t stay till morning,” he said. “We can’t wake up together.”

“I know,” said Felicity, “but we’ll see each other again in only a few hours.”

“A very few hours,” said Zarad. “Try to get some sleep.”

And he pressed his lips to her hairline, as she could feel herself drifting off, exhausted and loose-limbed and unbearably happy. She thought he might forget, and fall asleep alongside her as she was pressed against his body. She knew better than that, though. Whatever face he might show to the world, Zarad was never anything but perfectly in control. Felicity felt a little pang at the thought of him getting dressed, alone in the dark, in the middle of the night, and sneaking off back to his own room. Would he even get any sleep tonight? All that work to make her first night with him as perfect as it could possibly be, and he still had to sleep alone.

There was no time to wonder too much, since she was already half-asleep. In a few hours they would be leaving Vail Isle, probably forever. In a few months, they would be married, and a few months was not such an awful long time to wait. Even if, she realized just before she finally fell asleep, her own dreams were likely to get a lot more vivid in the interim.


	4. Nostalgia (Allegra & Avalie, PG)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4: Nostalgia, combines two prompts “That was a perfect example of how not to do things” and “Why are you/we whispering?”. It takes place in the following summit, seven years post-canon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alpha readers may detect a tiny bit of added value in this installment.

Everything at the castle was exactly as she remembered. Less fraught with mortal peril, certainly, but otherwise quite the same. Even the exhaustion she remembered eating up her days, towards the end, was already starting to creep in. A poor omen for her ability to fill her function as chaperone, Allegra thought, given that they were barely halfway through the first week of the summit. Still, there was something gratifying about being back at this place, seeing it with her own two eyes and letting objective reality correct whatever fancies time had accumulated on her memories of her own time as delegate.

And it was good to meet with old friends, too. Of all the invitations she had received – and immediately dismissed – on her first week as a chaperone, Avalie’s was the one she was most eager to accept.

“Quite a crop of young malcontents we have on our hands, don’t we?” said Avalie, eyes sparkling as she poured the tea.

“I think we are a little young to be so loftily patronizing towards them,” said Allegra. “At least, you certainly are, Lady Avalie.”

Avalie raised an eyebrow.

“Excuse me,” said Allegra with a smile. “Of course I meant  _Duchess_  Avalie, and may I congratulate you again on your nuptials?”

“Only if I may congratulate you in turn, dear Allegra,” said Avalie, mirth dancing in her eyes, “for your own recent good fortune.”

Allegra’s hand dropped down to press against her abdomen before she could think better of it. “Not that I doubt your instincts, but how can you be so certain?” she asked.

Avalie shrugged. “Not certain,” she said, “not quite. Yet you seem to be much more fatigued than the circumstances would call for, and you’ve never been one for a weak constitution. What else could put you off your food, when the cuisine is so unparalleled? Poison?”

Allegra grimaced.

“Yes,” said Avalie pleasantly, “I should hope not. Dear Allegra, you look positively green. If you speak to the staff, I’m quite certain they’ll be able to provide a remedy for your symptoms. They have remarkable resources, the secrets of which they reveal to no one, of course.”

Allegra lowered her voice. “I think they’ve been putting it in my food, actually,” she murmured, “else I’d never be able to keep anything down.

“How thoughtful of them, if a bit high-handed,” said Avalie softly. “But tell me, Allegra, why are we whispering?”

Allegra tilted her head at the doorway to the little parlor they were sitting in, where a swish of color and a whisper of fabric had alerted her to the presence of a third person in their midst, not quite fully concealed.

Avalie’s smile turned sharper and, if possible, even brighter. “My, this does bring back memories,” she murmured, “doesn’t it?”

“Oh?” asked Allegra. “Did you also suffer from an unfortunate predilection towards amateur spying, like this year’s delegates seem to be plagued by?”

“Didn’t you?” asked Avalie. “Isn’t that how you uncovered all my secrets, my one and only rival?”

“I would hardly say I uncovered  _all_  your secrets,” said Allegra. “That seems presumptuous. Still, I was glad that we could meet for this little reunion. How dull the summit would be if the same nations sent the same chaperones, year after year.”

“You find our fellow chaperones interesting, I see,” said Avalie.

“Don’t you?” asked Allegra.

“Oh, certainly,” answered Avalie. “It’s fascinating to meet one of Skalt’s fabled wise-women in person, isn’t it? Where else would we get such a unique opportunity? And Connor is perfectly charming.  _Captain_  Connor, I suppose I should say.”

“He is,” agreed Allegra, “a very pleasant conversationalist. All the same, I think there is somewhat more to him than charm. Grand Duke Woodly was quite charming, and I never enjoyed his company half as much. I’m so glad they sent you as chaperone instead, Avalie.”

Avalie’s eyes twinkled and she lowered her voice again. “Lady Allegra, are you sure you’re quite all right? The Grand Duke is Wellish, and I am certainly nothing of the sort.”

“Oh dear,” said Allegra, clutching a hand to her breast. “How muddled my mind is, to have made such a careless mistake. Please forgive me.”

“Not at all, Lady Allegra,” said Avalie brightly. “Please, have some more tea.”

Her ears perked at the rustling of fabric and she glanced sidelong at the heavy drapes that covered the open doorway.

“You disappoint me, Allegra,” she said, once the faint disturbance had subsided. “That’s not how it’s done at all.”

“Oh, never!” said Allegra. “What did I do wrong?”

Avalie threw up her hands. “Simply everything, darling. I cannot in good conscience recommend you to my peers on the merits of such a disappointing performance.”

“My,” said Allegra. “I didn’t even realize such an offer was on the negotiating table. Is it altogether retracted, or do I still have a chance to redeem myself?”

“I can be magnanimous,” said Avalie.

“No doubt,” agreed Allegra.

“But you must know, dear Allegra,” said Avalie again, “that that was a perfect example of how  _not_  to do things.”

“Oh dear,” said Allegra. “How damning.”

“Firstly, you’ve made things  _far_  too easy for them,” said Avalie, ticking off the words on her fingers, “you said too much, and too soon, and too freely. It’s only the first week of the summit, after all.”

“I know,” said Allegra. “I’ve been invited to half-a-dozen teas, already.”

“Will you be accepting any of those invitations?” asked Avalie.

“I don’t know, yet,” answered Allegra. “I’m waiting to be tendered an invitation I can’t refuse. Is there any tea left?”

“Not a drop,” said Avalie, lifting the porcelain kettle to demonstrate.

“Damn.”

“Perhaps,” said Avalie delicately, “we should pay a visit to Yamara, and see if she has something to ease your plight.”

“Perhaps I should,” said Allegra. “The other day I was quite violently ill in the forbidden wing, of all places.”

Avalie gasped. “How awful! Imagine the surprise of the young delegates, attempting to snoop and getting more than they bargained for. What on earth were you doing in the forbidden wing, in your condition?”

As she spoke, she leaped up from her seat and rushed to offer Allegra her arm.

“I’m not an invalid, Avalie,” said Allegra pointedly, “only pregnant. Probably. I was looking for some old graffiti, if you must know. I rather thought you just said we ought to make snooping more difficult for them, did you not?”

“Not quite what I had in mind,” said Avalie, “but points for creativity. Shall we?”

Allegra took the offered arm with a resigned sigh, and they turned towards the guest quarters’ corridor to search for the Skaltic chaperone.


	5. Family (Bel/Emmett, Jack, PG)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bel is apprehensive about visiting Wellin, even though it was her idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5: Family, takes place an indeterminate number of years post-canon in a continuity in which Bel was a delegate and Jack was not. Bel and Jack's fathers are brothers. Bel's mother, Kendra, is alive and free.

Emmett had told her that Wellin was a lot like Arland, and she could see what he meant by it, but she didn’t really agree. The two countries were subtly different in all sorts of interesting ways, from the food to the street music to even the weather. Of course she knew about the weather in advance, but that somehow didn’t keep her from being surprised every morning as she woke up to the dawn chill.

The people in the cities they passed through had a standoffishness to them that she couldn’t imagine any of her Arlish neighbors would consider good manners. They were more extravagant, also, and she did not like that. More and more, Bel was rather glad that her father had left Wellin as a youth. Rather, as she liked to think of it, that her mother, the notorious pirate Captain Kendra Blackthorn, had rescued him from a lifetime of dreary stuffiness.

The day’s ride, then, had pleasantly surprised her. The three of them had set out as soon as it was light, despite Anna’s yawns and protestations. At first the roads were empty because of the early hour, but as the day wore on they ran into more and more locals, and all of them were unfailingly kind and friendly. Not even in the stiff, slightly superior politeness that she had come to associate with the Wellish, but earnestly welcoming.

Maybe today would turn out right, after all. Bel was still more than a little apprehensive, even though this trip had been her idea to begin with. She’d insisted on it, in fact. And no, it was not only because their younger child was too small to bear the traveling and had to be left back at the Lilypond with his gran and his nannies. She’d said that she wanted to know where he came from, and she knew her father would never reach out of his own volition. If there were family ties to be mended, it was up to her to make the first move.

“Bel!”

She shook off her distracted thoughts and focused on her husband.

Emmett smiled brightly at her, and she saw that he’d pulled his horse to the side of the road to chat with a man leading a pack-mule by a rope. They seemed to be chatting comfortably, so Bel didn’t speed her riding overmuch. She had Anna on the saddle before her, and she didn’t like to jostle her too much. She would catch up to them soon enough.

“This man gave me directions to Holt castle,” said Emmett when her horse had reached comfortable speaking distance. “Did you know, we’ve been riding through Holt for hours, now.”

“Have we?” said Bel. “I hope that means we’re close.”

“G’day, milady,” said the man. “Must be two hours’ brisk ride that way,” he said, gesturing, “no more.”

Bel looked from Emmett on his horse to little Anna cradled against her chest and made a face.

“I’d best ride ahead to announce us,” said Emmett, “so they’ll know to expect a lady and a child.”

Bel nodded. “I’ll keep on at a slower pace, with Anna and Geoff. Now, I won’t be riding alone, you see, so there’s nothing to be worried about.”

Emmett looked like he was about to argue, but changed his mind. “We’re hardly likely to come to harm, here of all places, surely.”

The strange man nodded and smiled. “Nowhere in the kingdoms is safer than Holt,” he said. “You’ll see when you meet the Countess. She’d never let us down.”

 

* * *

 

“You said your wife and daughter will be joining us?” asked Jack dubiously.

The strange man nodded, which set his golden curls bouncing. “They should be right along, they were riding right behind me. They only had to go more slowly because our daughter is quite young, still.”

He looked too young to have a wife and daughter, but maybe that was just the way his face was, and he hadn’t grown out of it. But no, he didn’t look any older than Jack herself, younger maybe. Of course, many would say that she was long past due to get married herself, but things were different when one was a young and eligible heiress. Still, he seemed pleasant and downright charming, so if he’d fixed on getting married it wasn’t hard to believe he’d find a willing bride. 

But that was more introspection than Jack could tolerate for one day. 

“Do you want to see the dogs?” she asked, abandoning all efforts at decorum. 

His face broke into a radiant smile. “I would love to. Purebred Wellish dogs are supposed to be the best in the world.” 

“Oh, they are,” said Jack confidently, though she’d never been outside Wellin’s borders in her life, “and Holt’s are the best in Wellin, too.” 

With a new litter of puppies to break the ice, Emmett opened up easily and told her all about his travels over the seven kingdoms. Jack envied him more than a little, even if he did have to go home to  _Arland_  at the end of every journey. She was convinced that if there was a place more terrible than Wellin’s royal court, Arland had to be it. At least here in Holt, everyone loved her just as she was. Things were proceeding nicely when one of her footmen appeared to announce that there was a woman and child seeking entrance to the castle. 

“That would be Bel and Anna, now,” said Emmett, nodding sagely. 

Jack was overbearingly curious to see them, so much so that she was willing to leave off playing with the puppies any longer. She wondered what she would be like, the wife of this unusual Arlish Earl who didn’t act like any nobleman she’d ever known. Except, maybe, her father. 

Nothing could have prepared her for the reality. 

“The Countess will see you now,” the footman announced. 

Into her great hall entered possibly the tallest woman she’d ever seen. She was dark-skinned, and in the low candlelight of the hall her hair had a russet sheen to it. She was dressed in riding leathers, not even a split skirt, and she carried a toddler on one hip. The child had a mess of curly hair and her thumb stuck in her mouth. She must have been sleepy, but she was looking around the room curiously. Jack instantly knew that she would like her. 

The Countess of Lalahi passed the child on her hip over to her husband and dipped a quick, neat curtsy in her general direction. 

“Well, then,” she said, “now that the niceties are dispensed with, let’s have a look at you, cousin.” 

She couldn’t imagine two less likely cousins, even taking into account that they both apparently favored their mothers. Christabel was tall and broad-shouldered. Up close, her hair proved to be thick, curly and a dark wine-red color, and her eyes were a brilliant shade of green. Jack herself was short, rather round of figure, and had yellow hair and blue eyes. She realized, much to her amusement, that she looked more closely related to Earl Emmett than to his wife. For all she knew, she was; she’d never studied her mother’s family tree too closely. 

“So,” said Jack, to cover up her awkwardness. “You must be the kidnapper’s daughter.” 

It was a terribly crass and inappropriate thing to say, but Christabel only broke into deep laughter. 

“I see the story of my father’s fabled kidnapping is still making the rounds, even all these years later,” she said. “I must tell my parents. They’ll both be delighted. Well, mama will be delighted. Papa finds the whole matter rather embarrassing.” 

“Your parents are still alive,” said Jack, not bothering to phrase it as a question. 

Christabel nodded, her smile dimming. “They still live on Hise, although my mother doesn’t captain a boat anymore.” 

“Do you have any siblings?” asked Jack impulsively. 

She shook her head. “Just me and my parents. What about you?” 

Jack smiled, but she couldn’t seem to put any real cheer into it. “Just me, for years now.” 

The Earl and his bride exchanged a worried look. 

“But let’s not be so gloomy,” said Jack quickly. “Who’s this little puppy?” She bent down to look at the girl leaning against her father’s legs. 

The little girl very gravely offered her a hand to shake, which Jack of course took with all due courtesy. 

“This is Annarose,” said Emmett. “Anna, say hello.” 

Annarose mumbled something out of the corner of her mouth, and clung closer still to her father’s legs. 

“She’s shy,” said Christabel apologetically. 

“Nothing of it,” said Jack, pasting on a grin. “What was I thinking? You must be tired and hungry after all that riding. Dinner isn’t for another hour, I think. You’ll have some time to rest.” She paused and took a breath. “You are staying, aren’t you? Oh, please stay!” 

They exchanged another look and Christabel laughed. 

“We can hardly refuse such a generous invitation,” said Emmett, breaking into a grin. 

“Wonderful!” said Jack, clapping her hands together. “Oh, Maria will be around in a moment to show you to the guest rooms. Maria’s the housekeeper, you know. She’s my right hand, I’d be lost without her. Your man will be with the animals in the stables, so the stablehands will see him taken care of with dinner and a place to stay and so on. If they’re ever done admiring your horses, that is, although I must agree that they look like very fine beasts. I don’t know half as much about horses as I do about dogs, though.” 

She kept up her end of the conversation easily all the way to where Maria was waiting for them, with Emmett pitching in now and then. Maria gladly accepted a sleepy-looking Annarose from her mother, cooing at her adoringly. She left all three guests in her capable hands and went round back to the other staircase, which led directly to her own room. She washed up for dinner without anyone having to remind her, and even took the trouble to run a comb through her windblown hair. It would be the liveliest dinner Holt castle will have seen since the last time her mother’s elder brother had brought his whole brood over. And much nicer, because she only got on with the very youngest relations, on that side of the family. 

 

* * *

 

“What did you think?” asked Emmett, after they’d laid Anna down for a much needed nap, and were resting together in the plush window-seat. 

“She seems nice enough,” said Bel. “Energetic, and certainly a chatterbox, but she’s not much like any of the Wellish nobles I’ve ever met. Not much like papa, either, come to think of it.” 

“I like her,” said Emmett decisively, “and I think Gabriel would like her, too.” 

“Oh, he would,” agreed Bel, “if he could get her to slow down long enough to have a proper conversation.” 

“You’ll have to tell her the whole story of your parents’ meeting,” said Emmett. “The long version.” 

Bel nodded. “I think she’ll like it. She seems so lonely. Now, tell me about the dogs.” 

Emmett laughed. 


	6. Modern A/U (misc., PG)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allegra and Zarad attend the RJA's official Onvu club and indulge in a protracted gossiping session.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 6: Modern A/U, takes place in an alternate universe in which the seven kingdoms are technologically modern, and the characters are all attending a fancy Jiyel university. Tentatively rated teen for some non-explicit sexual references.

The Royal Jiyel Academy had had an official Onvu club, and attendant tournament team, for as long as it had been in existence. After all, if Onvu had not strictly been invented in Jiyel, at the very least it had been perfected into its current form there. And the RJA was the best school of its sort in the world. Onvu was a globally recognized sport and tournaments could be a lucrative business. Not to mention, it was a major draw for international students, who came from every country in the world to match minds against the best young strategists of their generation. 

The club was usually managed by one of the brightest young students, almost invariably a graduate of the Royal Jiyel Junior Academy, which shared part of its campus with the RJA. This year, the student in question was one of their most brilliant young prospects, who had already made a name for herself in the debate circuits and the mathematics society. She’d purportedly been playing Onvu since she was four years old, and had beaten masters aplenty. At the present moment she was dividing her attention between supervising a club meeting, and playing a match against a former Youth World Championship medal-holder. 

“She doesn’t look like much, does she?” said Allegra off-handedly as she arranged the game board. 

Zarad snorted. “She looks like she belongs on the other side of the fence.” 

“She’s eighteen, I hear,” said Allegra skeptically. “I suppose standing next to the Duke makes her look younger than her years, as well as shorter.” 

Zarad laughed. “I think our perspective is clouded, Allegra, by the company we keep.” 

Allegra paused to make her opening move, then replied, “I don’t know what you mean.” 

“You seem to spend most of your time among the older set among the students, is what I was getting at,” said Zarad. “Myself included.” 

“Oh?” asked Allegra. 

“You never did tell me what caused you to delay your admittance,” he said, too casually, as he pushed a game piece into place with one finger. “You weren’t wait-listed, surely. Your standardized test scores are higher than the example sheet.” 

Allegra laughed. “Didn’t you hear? I was a high-priced call-girl before my sugar daddy picked me out of a catalog and promised to pay my tuition in exchange for sex.” 

He glanced away from the board and up at her. “Is that what they say?” 

“That’s the word around campus,” she answered. She didn’t seem too bothered by it. 

“You’re taking it well,” he said. 

Allegra shrugged one shoulder and kept her eyes on the board. “Everyone knows that the Duke’s admittance was delayed because his father died and he had to deal with the estate and all the funeral arrangements. Your roommate doesn’t keep secret that he took a few years off to sail around the world. You’ve seen his social media posts, I assume.” 

“Many, many times,” said Zarad. 

“People like to gossip,” said Allegra. “That’s all there is to it. If there’s no juicy story, they’ll invent one.” 

“I’d hate to think what the rumor mill has to say about me.” 

She smiled conspiratorially. “Do you really want to know?” 

“I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?” said Zarad, but there was a gleam of curiosity in his eye that would not be denied. 

“The smart money is on a particularly rare and virulent strain of syphilis,” said Allegra. 

Zarad laughed. “Don’t let that get back to my girlfriend,” he said. “She’ll be horrified, and demand to know why I haven’t quashed the rumors.” 

“Why won’t you, then?” asked Allegra. 

“I find them rather amusing,” he said. “She won’t see it so philosophically, I think.” 

“That’s what you get for dating a pastor’s daughter,” said Allegra. 

“I suppose.” 

“How’s your roommate handling it?” she asked. 

“Who, Hamin?” asked Zarad. “Oh, he’s all right. You know him, always a barrel of laughs, never a dull moment.” 

Allegra made a sound at the back of her throat. 

“What?” asked Zarad, narrowing his eyes at her. “And don’t think I didn’t notice that gambit, either. You’ll get nothing past me, not even with a steady stream of gossip.” 

“Damn,” she said. “Well, it was worth a shot. I think you’re underestimating how hurt he was by the breakup.” 

“Hamin?” said Zarad, raising an eyebrow. 

Allegra nodded. “He was completely smitten with her, you know.” 

“Hamin?” said Zarad again. “With Felicity?” 

“The only reason you didn’t notice,” said Allegra, “was because you couldn’t keep your eyes off her yourself.” 

“Huh,” he said. 

“I hope you know what you’re doing with her,” said Allegra. 

“This feels so unequal,” said Zarad. “I never give you love advice about your relationship with what’s-his-name.” 

She scoffed at that. “She’ll stick to you like a burr, you know. Actually, you should bring her to the club, next meeting. I’d like to set her paying against Avalie. See what happens.” 

“You’re heartless,” said Zarad. “And you’ve got it the wrong way around.” 

“Oh?” said Allegra. 

“Yes,” he replied. “If anyone’s sticking like a burr–” 

She stayed her hand halfway to the board, clasped it with her other hand, and leaned her chin on them, looking across the table at him. “You’re serious about her.” 

Zarad smiled faintly. 

“You need to take that girl to bed,” advised Allegra sagely, “and sooner rather than later.” 

“I don’t want to spook her,” he said. 

“You wait any longer, she’ll only get more and more anxious about it,” she said. “Trust me on this.” 

“I’m not sure I do,” he said. 

“Take that virgin to bed, Zarad,” she said. “The longer you wait, the more time she has to get inside her own head and psych herself out about it. Fuck her, and fuck her hard.” 

“Really, Allegra?” he said. 

“Make her scream your name.” 

“This conversation has gotten wildly inappropriate,” said Zarad. 

“Our conversations often are,” replied Allegra. 

“I saw you with Marguerite on the south side of the campus the other day,” he said. “Three moves to victory.” 

Allegra knocked two pieces off the game board with one maneuver. “Not a chance,” she said. “Were you also there for the Pride Society meeting, then?” 

He laughed. “No, and I don’t think you were, either.” 

“I was, actually,” said Allegra. “It just so happens that while I was on the way to the mixer, I passed your ex-girlfriend in the quad. She looked like she was heading towards the accommodations office.” 

“So that’s one mystery solved,” said Zarad. “Did she see you see her?” 

She shrugged. 

“You should be careful of Marguerite,” he said. “She’s more dangerous than she looks.” 

“Your type, then,” said Allegra. 

“Felicity isn’t dangerous,” he said. 

Allegra laughed. 

“Most of the other players have finished their first matches,” said Zarad. “We’re behind schedule.” 

“I noticed,” she said. “We don’t seem to have an audience, though.” 

“Everyone is watching the Duke’s match with the new Jiyel prodigy,” he replied. “They seem awfully cozy. Do you think a frighteningly brilliant love-match could be in their future?” 

Allegra shook her head. “She has a crush on one of the librarians.” 

“Your inexhaustible sources of gossip, Allegra,” said Zarad, “never fail to amaze me.” 

She knocked over his last standing piece by way of a response. 

Zarad sighed. “How many does that make?” 

“Eight for me, seven for you, if I remember correctly,” said Allegra. 

“We should double-date, you know,” he said. “Saturday night, what do you say? Me and Felicity, you and your new boy-toy.” 

“Terrible idea,” she said. “Do you want to go and watch the geniuses play?” 

“No need,” said Zarad. “Look, they’re already finished.” 

“Huh,” said Allegra. “That they are. Shame. I was looking forward to getting a glimpse of his technique.” 

“Next time you should gossip less,” said Zarad. “It makes the matches move that much more quickly.” 

“You’re terrible,” she said, but he only smiled and winked, and they moved on to their next opponents. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The pairings are the same as the main continuity, with a bonus of some past pairings based on my canon-compliant romantic A/Us. The eighteen-year-old Jiyel delegate mentioned is Periwinkle, and the librarian is Jasper. Zarad and Hamin are roommates, and Felicity is dating Zarad but used to date Hamin (her A/U canon romance). Allegra is dating Clarmont and living off-campus. Quentin (canonically the Baron of Namaire) is not her sugar daddy, but he did pay her tuition. Marguerite has a learning disability, which is why she was at the accommodations office. "The Duke" is Lyon's nickname, because of all his Onvu tournament medals. Bel and Jack also exist in this continuity, but I couldn't quite fit them in.


	7. Winter/Spring (Periwinkle/Jasper, PG)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The summit is over and the last ship to Jiyel is about to depart.

They ran into each other quite by accident. Literally ran into each other, even. Periwinkle was rushing down the path from the castle to the docks and forgot, for a brief but important moment, to look where she was going. The grounds were almost empty, after all. Everyone was gone. Almost everyone. Everyone she knew, certainly.

After seven weeks of doing absolutely everything together, the delegates’ departures were too many to be managed over a single day and had to be staggered over several days, to prevent the dockworkers’ being overworked and making critical mistakes. To say nothing of the chaperones and the ambassadors. None of them would be returning to Vail Isle in the near future, or at all, so the whole staff had to be rallied to make very certain that nothing important got left behind. Periwinkle didn’t even know if it was _possible_  to navigate an outsiders’ ship to the Isle between summits.

Today was the last day, and it was slowly drawing to a close, and so the castle and grounds seemed suddenly very empty. Even the staff seemed less. Perhaps some of them had already returned to their homes and families, wherever those were. The Jiyelian ambassadorial ship had departed on the first day after negotiations were sealed, early in the morning, as though they couldn’t wait to leave. Another ship, bearing Avalie and Lyon and several of the other Jiyel delegates, had departed just yesterday. Periwinkle hadn’t been on it.

That was why she was so intent on making it to the docks before sundown, to reach the last ship departing the Isle that would pass through Jiyel at all. It was a Hisean merchant vessel, making the rounds of several ports in Arland and Jiyel both, before circling back around to Hise itself. She didn’t even think there would be any other delegates on it, or at any rate, none of the ones she’d gotten to know well. And because it was the last ship heading to Jiyel, and because she was in such a rush, and because she’d assumed the path would go on being empty when she rounded the bend – she ran right into him.

“Oh!” she said, startled, and spread out both arms to regain her balance.

She needn’t have bothered. Almost before she’d had time to notice that she was off-balance, he’d already grabbed her by both arms to steady her. She looked up at him and then quickly away, finding that he was studying her with his usual intense concentration.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she said. “I didn’t look where I was going at all, I’m afraid.”

Jasper dropped his hands from her arms quite quickly, once he realized she was no longer in danger of tripping over her own feet. “Lady Periwinkle.”

She felt the color rise in her cheeks. “Yes. I mean–”

“It’s quite all right,” said Jasper.

Periwinkle sighed, mostly in relief. “I’m sorry,” she said again. “I was in quite a rush, but that’s no excuse.”

“Where exactly were you going, in such a rush?” he asked.

“The docks,” said Periwinkle and, without letting herself think about it too much, added, “Will you walk me down there?”

“I suppose I must,” said Jasper gravely, “if only to prevent you running into anyone else on the way.”

She laughed.

He offered her his arm and they walked together in companionable silence. Their pace was brisk enough to satisfy her urgency, and at least she wasn’t likely to take any more tumbles, aborted or otherwise, on the way there. As they walked she considered and quickly discarded several possible avenues of conversation. Eventually she decided that talking was overrated, and she preferred the silence between them, anyway. Even when he didn’t say anything, she could still feel him there, and she felt that he understood her like no one else did.

They made it to the docks in good time.

Periwinkle dawdled a moment, wondering whether now he would say something.

“This is the last ship to Jiyel,” she said. “I really mustn’t miss it.”

A shadow passed silently over his face, disappearing quickly under the familiar mask of composure. “Certainly, Lady Periwinkle,” he said.

“Only–” she began, and shook her head. “There was something I wanted to say.”

Jasper waited patiently while she gathered her thoughts.

She looked up at the sky, and then left and right. “It’s growing dark,” she said. “I’m not certain this is the best place to have this conversation.”

Jasper nodded understandingly. “Don’t let me delay you, Lady Periwinkle,” he said. “Go. Your ship is waiting.”

Periwinkle chewed her lip, casting a look behind one shoulder at the docked ship. “Wait here,” she said to Jasper, holding up an index finger, “just a moment. I only need to exchange a few words with someone and I’ll be right back.”

He frowned, but nodded his head.

“I’ll only be a moment!” she called back over her shoulder as she dashed down the pier.

Her eye caught one of the Arland delegates, watching while the sailors loaded an overstuffed trunk, presumably hers, on the ship in question. There was no one else about that she could speak to. Dredging her memory, Periwinkle even managed to produce a name to match the face. She stopped her mad dash just in time to avoid running into the other lady and bobbed a hasty curtsy before launching into her prepared speech. Lady Marcia was most understanding, and promised to take up her cause to the best of her ability. If she couldn’t do it herself, she promised, she would be sure to find someone who could.

Much relieved, Periwinkle parted from her in polite but rather hasty terms, and started making her way back to where, she hoped, Jasper was still waiting. Behind her, a helpful sailor was assisting Lady Marcia in boarding the ship. Above her, the sky was darkening, not just with the fall of night, but growing overcast, too. It could easily start raining any moment, if she didn’t miss her mark. Now she wanted to hold her important conversation with Jasper out in the open even less than before. There had to be some form of shelter nearby that they could take cover under, for a brief hour, at least.

The wind was picking up, playing havoc with her hair, and the jacket of her dress was hanging open. When Jasper caught sight of her running in his direction, though, he still smiled.

“If you keep running at such a clip, you’ll end up hurting yourself,” he rebuked her gently. “Are your trunks all loaded? You shouldn’t put that off to the last minute, it’s not like you.”

Periwinkle broke into a smile. “Is there somewhere we can talk for a moment?” she asked. “In private.”

Jasper frowned. “The ship will be leaving soon.”

“I know,” said Periwinkle. “Please, Jasper, this is important.” She took his hand in both of hers and gave it a little squeeze.

“There is somewhere nearby,” he said. “We can go there, if you like.”

She nodded, and let him take her hand and lead her up a second, smaller path to a small, carved bench under a sprawling oak tree. The canopy was so wide and thick that she thought even if it did start raining, they would probably manage to stay mostly dry. She took a seat on the little bench and waited patiently for Jasper to join her. For a moment, she thought he might protest the informality of it, but it seemed like they were past that stage at last.

Before she could get her first words in, he preempted her.

“Lady Periwinkle,” he said, “it has been… beyond an honor to have you as a delegate. I was so certain from the moment I met you that you could succeed at whatever you put your mind to. And I was so grateful and so very, very proud to be proven right. You’ve made me so–” He stopped abruptly, and cleared his throat.

“Happy?” she asked. “Is that what you meant to say?”

“You’ve done your country a great credit as a delegate, Lady Periwinkle,” he said.

“I’m not a delegate anymore, Jasper,” she said.

He hung his head. “I know.”

Periwinkle took his unresisting hand in her again. “I don’t think you do. My duties are discharged. I don’t owe anything to anyone, except to myself – and you.”

“Peri–” he started to say, but she shushed him.

“Did you really not hear what I said, or did you just not understand?” she asked. “I went down to the docks so that I could get a letter back to my parents in Jiyel. If I hadn’t sent it out just now, who knows how long it might have taken to get to them? Or even if it reached them at all? I had to be certain.”

“Peri?” he asked, hesitantly.

“Look at me, Jasper,” she said. “That ship is leaving any moment now, and I’m not going to be on it.”

The rain chose that exact moment to break over their heads, in a fine, gray drizzle.

Periwinkle watched his face as he struggled to put her words together, and laughed.

“You’ll ever be rid of me now,” she said.

“Your parents will want you back,” he said. “Isn’t your first duty to your family?”

She shrugged. “They will understand. I explained everything in my letter. I had to be certain that they understood I was doing this of my own free will. Not because I was embarrassed to return to Jiyel without having made a match, or some nonsense of the sort.”

Jasper laughed softly.

“How dare you laugh at me?” asked Peri, propping her fists on her hips in mock-outrage.

“I cannot imagine anyone who knew you well would think that,” he said frankly.

Peri sighed. “People will believe the strangest things of me,” she said, and fell back against the bench’s back.

The rain was still coming down, fine and misty, and darkness was rapidly falling.

“I’m glad we sorted this out, finally,” said Peri, throwing a forearm over her face. “It was starting to make me anxious, and I’ve had quite enough of that for a lifetime.”

“I’m glad, too,” said Jasper quietly.

“I wish I knew what happened next, though,” she mused aloud. “I never intended to leave Jiyel. I never intended to do anything except keeping up my research. Though I suppose I could do that here, as well. Possibly more easily than in Jiyel, even.”

She became aware just then of his eyes on her, and drew her arm back, straightening up to look at him. It seemed natural and almost easy that the next thing he did was pull her into his arms and kiss her. So much simpler than their first kiss, which had been weeks in the making and still almost didn’t happen, still felt like it would expire like a soap bubble at the lightest breath. So much so that she could imagine each kiss becoming easier than the last, until they were as natural to her as breathing. Even thinking about the possibility made her feel a little light-headed.

Jasper ran a hand through her hair and said, “We should go back up to the castle while there’s a break in the rain.”

Peri nodded, not feeling up to the task of making words come out of her mouth just then. He got up from the bench and she let him pull her up with him, and hold her hand, and lace their fingers together. And they began the long walk up the hill to the castle. Despite his earlier words, Jasper led them on a meandering path through the grounds, until they’d reached a small side door that she’d never seen before. That was not very surprising, after all. The castle, the island, and especially Jasper himself still held hundreds of secrets from her, secrets that she could spend the rest of her life trying to unravel.

This particular secret ended in a room with two chairs perched in front of a small hearth and a desk in the corner. A small bookcase huddled under the window, and across the room was a second, closed door. Peri’s mind clicked the pieces of the puzzle together all too quickly when she realized that these must be Jasper’s private quarters.

“I didn’t know where else to take you,” said Jasper quietly. “I can talk to Mrs. White on your behalf, I’m sure. She’ll find a place for you. Right now I suspect she’s still busy orchestrating the last departures.”

Peri nodded absently, trying to restrain herself from examining the details of the room too obviously.

“Peri,” he said.

She turned to look at him.

“If Mrs. White isn’t available until tomorrow–” he started. “I mean– You could always–”

“Yes,” said Peri hastily, before he could tie himself further into knots. “Yes, please.”

He looked at her and blinked, as though he couldn’t quite believe she was really there. Then he gave up on that and kissed her again, which was much better. Finally Peri could freely run her fingers through his hair, like she’d been wanting to do for weeks. It was as soft as she’d imagined, possibly hundreds of times by now. Finally she could throw her arms around his neck and press her body against his and not worry or even think about whether it was proper or not. None of that mattered anymore.

Peri broke for air and her breath caught a little when it suddenly occurred to her that Jasper’s bedroom was also somewhere nearby. That closed door she’d seen earlier, she realized, and hadn’t made the connection. She was very ready to make the connection now, but she wasn’t certain she could trust herself to say as much out loud. Perhaps it was not the best idea, after all. It had already been such an overwhelmingly emotional day. If she was this affected by a handful of kisses, however long-awaited, going any further would probably give her an outright heart-attack.

“Peri?” asked Jasper, touching her cheek with a fingertip. “Are you all right?”

She smiled a wobbly smile. “I think I’m happier than I can bear, at the moment,” she said. “Does that qualify as being all right?”

He huffed a small laugh and smoothed back her hair. Then he frowned and said, “It’s getting rather late. I almost didn’t notice. You should stay here while I go get us both some supper.”

Peri considered arguing in favor of his staying just a little longer, but thought better of it. Dinner was still sacrosanct, as far as she was concerned. Besides, without the summit breathing down her neck, it was beginning to dawn on her how much time they really had before them. There would be time for talking, and kissing, and everything else, after they’d had something to eat. Maybe she would feel less light-headed after a hearty meal, too, although she wasn’t prepared to lay down any money on it.

“I will only be a few moments,” said Jasper. He hesitated, then pecked her on the cheek before disappearing silently through the door and shutting it behind him with a barely audible click.

Peri threw herself into one of the chairs in front of the fire and wondered how long it would be before this started feeling like real life, and not an especially wonderful dream.


End file.
